The Silver Waterfall

by Kevin Miller

  Commands VF-41 and the University of South Carolina NROTC Unit. After 32 years of service he retires as a captain, and, from 1976-1988, serves as Vice President of the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation, organizing and managing the bookstore.

  After a struggle with dementia, Johnny Adams passed away in 2011 at the age of 92 and is interred in Committal Shelter Number 3 of the Barrancas National Cemetery aboard NAS Pensacola. The author attended the internment.

  The bookstore at the National Naval Aviation Museum that he managed with loving care became a souvenir shop, and at this writing no books about the battles Adams fought in are available there for purchase.

  Clayton Fisher

  Shot down and rescued four months later at Santa Cruz, where Hornet met her end after only one year in commission. Instructs carrier landing procedures to student pilots at NAS Glenview from the converted side-wheelers Sable and Wolverine on Lake Michigan. He flies the F4U Corsair as XO of VF-53 aboard Essex during Korea, commands a Utility Squadron, and retires in 1961 as XO of NAS Miramar. Settling in Coronado, he becomes a successful real estate developer and buys a home down the street from his flight lead Stanhope Ring, with whom he has no relationship.

  Clay Fisher wrote and published Hooked, a superb memoir of his flying days, and passed away in 2012 at the age of 93.

  Daniel Iverson

  Flies in combat again that August with the “Cactus Air Force” at Guadalcanal’s Henderson Field, where he is awarded the Silver Star to go with the Navy Cross from his Midway actions. Promoted to major, he becomes an instructor pilot at Naval Air Station Vero Beach where, in January 1944, he loses his life in a midair collision with a student. His friend and fellow instructor Clay Fisher was there when it happened.

  The SBD-2 Dan Iverson and PFC Wallace Reid flew on 4 June 1942, Bureau Number 2106, is on display at the National Naval Aviation Museum. How it got there is another story.

  Lloyd Childers

  Recovered from his wounds, he enters flight school and receives his wings. Transferring to the Marine Corps as the war ended, he remains on active duty and fights as a fighter pilot in Korea. Retrained as a helicopter pilot, he commands HMM-361 in combat in Da Nang, RVN. After 28 years in uniform, he retires as a lieutenant colonel, earns a PhD, and serves as Associate Dean of Chapman College.

  Lloyd Childers died in Moraga, California, in 2015, at the age of 94.

  Harry Corl

  Awarded the Navy Cross for his action at Midway and is promoted to ensign. Flying the new TBF Avenger from Enterprise, he is killed in action 24 August 1942 during the Battle of the Eastern Solomons.

  The destroyer escort USS Harry L. Corl (DE-598) was named in his honor.

  Edwin Kroeger

  Awarded the Navy Cross and DFC, Kroeger returns to combat in 1944 aboard the carriers Hancock and the new Hornet, participating in the Battle of Leyte Gulf as the commanding officer of VB-11. He serves as air group commander aboard the carrier Midway and commands the NROTC Unit at Columbia University. After serving as naval attaché to Yugoslavia, he retires as a captain in 1963.

  Never to receive proper credit while alive for his decisive hit on Akagi, Kroeger eschewed attention for his role at Midway, and did volunteer and charity work at the Glenview, Illinois United Methodist Church, where he spent his golden years. After a brief illness, Bud Kroeger passed away in 2002 at the age of 89.

  Genevieve, his wife of 62 years said, “He just lived a life of service.”

  Robert Laub

  Awarded the Navy Cross, Air Medal (with Gold Star), and Purple Heart for his 1942 combats, Laub transfers to the Aviation Engineering Duty Officer community, specializing in radio and radar. He remains on active duty after the war, with billets in flight test and materiel acquisition, and receives a “tombstone promotion” to rear admiral upon his retirement in 1957. He settles in Blue Jay, California, and is an active member of the “Battle of Midway Roundtable” Internet discussion group.

  Bob Laub passed away in Northridge on November 10, 1988.

  Frank Jack Fletcher

  Despite the skepticism of Ernest King regarding the loss of Yorktown, Nimitz keeps Fletcher in command, awards him the Distinguished Service Medal for his victory at Midway, and promotes him to three stars. Two months later at Guadalcanal, enemy strength and logistic realities force Fletcher to withdraw for a time the carriers supporting the Marine amphibious landings, a decision for which he is vilified to this day. He meets and thwarts Nagumo again at the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, but the torpedoing of his flagship Saratoga and loss of Wasp to enemy submarines, not to mention the surface-gunfight debacle of Savo Island, prompt King to act. Banished to the “Elba” of the Northwest Sea Frontier, Fletcher never commands a task force again, and, notwithstanding the humble protests of Spruance, The Quiet Warrior is recognized by historians as the victor of Midway.

  Fletcher retired without fanfare in 1947, and chose not to fight for his tarnished reputation. He passed away at La Plata, Maryland in 1973 at the age of 87.

  In 1964, he responded to a friend producing a history of Midway: “I invite your attention to the remark which was supposed to have been made by Marshal Joffre, something like this: ‘I cannot say who won the Battle of the Marne, but there is no doubt who would have lost it.’ ”

  Raymond Spruance

  Having earned the confidence of Nimitz and King, Spruance later commands the Fifth Fleet. At the Battle of the Philippine Sea, the last great carrier duel, he, too, defeats Nagumo a second time, but decides to remain near the amphibious landing beaches of the Marianas, which he is ordered to support – and is again second-guessed by senior aviators for passing up an opportunity to pursue a wounded enemy. He commands off Okinawa, the final nail in the Japanese naval coffin, and is aboard his flagship USS New Jersey – where Nimitz held him hundreds of miles away as insurance – during the surrender ceremony in Tokyo Bay. Denied a fifth star, he serves as the president of his beloved Naval War College, is appointed as Ambassador to the Philippines, and settles in Carmel, California, where he dies in 1969 at the age of 83. With full military honors, he is buried last next to his friends Chester Nimitz, Kelly Turner, and Charles Lockwood at Golden Gate National Cemetery, overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

  Well aware of his own shortcomings, Spruance was uncomfortable with the adulation he received at Fletcher’s expense as his legend grew after Midway. Like Nimitz, he declined to write his memoirs. The lead ship of a class of U.S. Navy destroyers was named in his honor.

  Chūichi Nagumo

  The catastrophe that befell Nagumo off Midway is swept away for Navy face-saving as much as anything else, and he is given command of the Third Fleet. Fights ably during the Guadalcanal carrier duels, damaging Enterprise and sinking Hornet, but at the sacrifice of most of Japan’s remaining frontline carrier aviators. Brought home to command the Sasebo and Kure naval districts, he then receives command of the 14th Air Fleet at Saipan…with few airplanes. With his nemesis Spruance again on the horizon, his forces are powerless to repel the American amphibious onslaught. After a night of heavy drinking on 6 July 1944, as the Americans close in around his Saipan cave, he and fellow commanders commit seppuku.

  Nagumo was posthumously promoted to full admiral two days later.

  Minoru Genda

  In the months that followed Midway, Genda is again at sea, this time as Air Officer aboard the carrier Zuikaku, which deals severe damage to Enterprise at the Battle of the Eastern Solomons. Withdrawn to Imperial General Headquarters, in January 1945, he is given command of the 343rd Air Group. Tasked to open paths through the American combat air patrols from which the poorly trained kamikaze pilots could proceed, his pilots fight well until the end. Remaining in uniform, he rises to chief of staff of the Japanese Air Self Defense Force and is awarded the Legion of Merit by his old enemies upon his retirement in 1962.

  He enters politics, and is elected to Japan’s Upper House, where he serves for 20 years as a member of a right-wing faction of the Liberal Demo
cratic Party. A hard-line hawk on defense matters, he fights against limits to Japan’s military and is against Japan’s ratification of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty on the grounds that Japan might one day need such weapons.

  Genda died one day short of his 85th birthday in 1989.

  Taisuke Maruyama

  Survives the war, and there is a credible account of him participating in the Battle of Santa Cruz attack on Hornet, as well as less credible accounts of him bombing Saipan in December 1944 and attacking ships with torpedoes off Okinawa late in the conflict.

  In May 1998, he participates in a panel discussion about the Battle of Midway at the National Naval Aviation Museum, a panel that also features Richard Best and Lloyd Childers. As Maruyama recounts his actions through an interpreter, his dignified speech is serious and subdued. His only display of emotion is the pride he felt in landing a blow against the hull of Yorktown, which the interpreter relays to the audience. They break into long and heartfelt applause for the elderly warrior, a Japanese airman who had helped sink an American carrier 56 years earlier. The American panelists are not amused, and, at the reception, the hard feelings and suspicion among the aged antagonists are palpable.

  Another interview of his 1942 actions was recorded in September 2000 at the Nimitz National Museum of the Pacific War. No further interviews or obituary have been found by the author.

  Wade McClusky

  Recovers from his wounds to lead his air group off Enterprise when it returns to Pearl Harbor – only to learn that the island believes the Army Air Forces sank the Japanese Fleet at Midway. With a reputation as a “fixer,” and after a stint of shore duty in Washington, he returns to the Pacific to command the troubled escort carrier Corregidor (CVE-58). By war’s end, his marriage has failed due to the stress of repeated and extended absences.

  During the Korean War, he serves on sea-going staffs and commands Glenview Naval Air Station. Remarried, he retires in 1956, receiving a tombstone promotion to rear admiral for his combat awards.

  He settles in Ruxton, Maryland, works for the Martin Aircraft Company, teaches mathematics at Bryn Mawr, and works as a civil servant for the State of Maryland Civil Defense.

  Wade McClusky died June 27, 1976 at the age of 74.

  The frigate USS McClusky (FFG-41) was named in his honor, and each year the McClusky Award goes to the top performing Air-to-Ground tactical squadron in the U.S. Navy. In the mid-2010’s, a group of retired aviators, including flag officers, petitioned the Navy to upgrade McClusky’s Navy Cross to the Medal of Honor. To date, the Navy has not done so.

  Marc Mitscher

  After the dreadful performance of his ship at Midway, Mitscher feels certain his career is over. Given a second chance, he commands Task Force 58 under Spruance during another epic carrier duel, this one in the Philippine Sea in June of 1944. Always looking out for his men, from his flagship Lexington, he again says, “Turn on the lights” when his fuel-starved planes return in darkness after striking Ozawa’s carrier fleet, endearing him to aviators everywhere.

  He commands again off Okinawa, and finishes the war as Deputy CNO for Air, ruffling feathers inside and outside the Navy for his vocal advocacy of carrier air power. Earning a fourth star, he is given fleet command, but poor health and the accumulated stress from years of sea-going combat take their toll.

  “Pete” Mitscher died of coronary thrombosis while still on active duty on 3 February 1947, at the age of 60.

  Said the New York Times: He did not die in action. It is one measure of a sea-fighter’s success not to die in action. But he died of wounds as surely as any hard-hit soldier ever did.

  Stanhope Cotton Ring

  Awarded the Navy Cross for his leadership at Midway. After shore duty at Main Navy, he is the commissioning CO of the escort carrier Siboney (CVE-112), which arrives at Pearl Harbor the day after hostilities end. After the war, he commands USS Saratoga long enough to deliver her to Bikini Atoll, where she serves as an atomic bomb test article. He then commands the carrier Boxer. As a flag officer, he serves on various sea and shore staffs, including command of Carrier Division 1.

  Medically retired as a vice admiral, he settles in Coronado, California, where he dies in 1963 at the age of 60.

  Two sons followed in his Navy footsteps. His son William was a graduate of the illustrious Naval Academy Class of 1958, but was struck down by leukemia in 1965 at only 30.

  Midway haunted Ring. In 1946, he wrote a 22-page essay on his recollection of Midway, which remained hidden until his daughter found it in 1999 and forwarded it to the Naval Institute for publication. Ring’s “lost letter” leaves many questions unanswered.

  Richard Best

  Stunned, angry, and then heartbroken at the sudden illness that prevents him from flying or even serving, Best is medically retired in 1944 with 100% disability, a Navy Cross, and a DFC. Works for the Douglas Aircraft Company and Rand Corporation while still fighting the effects of tuberculosis. Outspoken and cantankerous, he willingly gives interviews and serves as a sharp-tongued panelist on numerous Battle of Midway commemorations well into his 80s.

  The hard-nosed dive-bomber pilot who couldn’t even imagine death passed away in October of 2001 at the age of 91. He is buried in Arlington.

  Dick Best was immortalized in Roland Emmerich’s 2019 film, Midway.

  Miles Browning

  The volatile officer goes to sea again with Halsey, his protector, who recommends him for the Distinguished Service Medal; not Spruance. He underperforms in the Solomons Campaign, though Halsey, amid whispers of scandal, strongly defends him professionally and personally. To get Browning away from Halsey, who King thought was ill-served by him, Browning receives command of the new-construction USS Hornet (CV-12). He is relieved for cause when found negligent in the deaths of two sailors who had fallen overboard while the ship was at anchor in 1944. King sends him as far away from water as he can: instructor duty at the Army War College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

  Retires in 1947 with a tombstone promotion to rear admiral. Appointed New Hampshire’s civil defense director in 1950, he contracts lupus and dies in September 1954 at the age of 57.

  Browning’s grandson Cornelius became an Emmy Award-winning comic actor: Chevy Chase.

  Maxwell Leslie

  Awarded the Navy Cross, Leslie assumes command of the Enterprise Air Group and sees combat months later off Guadalcanal. He returns to combat at the end of the war as a staff officer supporting the Peleliu, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa invasions. Commands the escort carrier USS Windham Bay (CVE-92) and Naval Air Station Barbers Point, Hawaii. Retiring in 1956 as a captain, he is administratively promoted to rear admiral, and settles in Arlington, VA. He serves as an advisor for the 1976 film “Midway,” the first film about the battle that recognized the merits and success of the carrier dive-bombers.

  Max Leslie died at age 82 of cardiac arrest in his Coronado home in September 1985. His ashes were scattered at sea from the carrier Ranger off San Diego.

  Mitsuo Fuchida

  After months of convalescence, which to him resembled prison as the Japanese took great pains to keep the truth about Midway from the public, Fuchida spends the rest of the war in Tokyo and is tasked to write the after-action report of the battle. Discharged in November 1945, he is later able to transform his report into a book he co-writes called Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan. Published to great acclaim in 1951, the book is released in the west in 1955.

  Fuchida is stunned to learn that returning Japanese prisoners were treated with kindness by their captors, even by the daughter of missionaries who were killed by the Japanese. He then learns of Jacob DeShazer, one of the captured Doolittle Raiders, whose life was opened to God during his torture and imprisonment in Japan. Curious about this Christian faith, he reads the Bible and becomes a Christian in 1949. Two years later, he creates the Captain Fuchida Evangelical Association, based in Seattle.

  His subsequent writings include From Pearl Harbor to Calvary and his memoir
For That One Day, translated and published in 2011. Fuchida died from complications of diabetes near Osaka, Japan, in September 1976 at the age of 73.

  For 50 years Fuchida’s “eyewitness testimony” that the Japanese had carrier decks full of warmed-up strike aircraft as the ships turned to launch heading – when the Americans suddenly appeared in their lethal dives – was accepted by most historians. His self-serving account of these “Five Fateful Minutes” was discredited by historians Parshall and Tully in their 2005 masterpiece, Shattered Sword.

  John “Jimmie” Thach

  Word of the “Thach Weave” spreads throughout the fleet, and Thach returns ashore to teach his beam defense maneuver at NAS Jacksonville. Is McCain’s Task Force 38 Operations Officer and is with him aboard Missouri for the surrender ceremony. Commands the escort carrier Sicily (CVE-118) during early combat in Korea and rises quickly, commanding the attack carrier Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVA-42), Carrier Division 16, and Anti-Submarine Warfare Force, Pacific Fleet. Against fierce opposition from Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, Thach fights for the development of the A-7 Corsair II, and, after receiving his fourth star, becomes commander in chief of US Naval Forces Europe, retiring in 1967.

  Jimmie Thach passed away in his Coronado, California, home in 1981, days short of his 76th birthday. The frigate USS Thach (FFG-47) was named in his honor.